Vitor Pereira lamented Nottingham Forest's inability to complete after injury absences took their toll against Aston Villa in their Europa League semi-final second leg.

Forest held a 1-0 lead at the halfway stage of the tie, but a lacklustre performance in the second leg saw them lose 4-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate after a disappointing outing at Villa Park.

Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Buendia had turned the tie around, but Forest were unable to find a way back into the match before John McGinn's late brace.

Forest have now been eliminated from each of their last three major cup semi-finals – the 2022-23 EFL Cup v Manchester United, the 2024-25 FA Cup v Manchester City and this season's Europa League.

Pereira, who oversaw an impressive 3-1 Premier League victory over Chelsea on Monday, admitted Forest were not at their best, but noted that a number of injuries also played their part.

"To compete in a semi-final and against a team like Aston Villa, we need everyone in the conditions to compete," Pereira told TNT Sports.

"If you look before the game, on the bench, we [effectively] had three players, because the other ones were injured.

"[On] our bench, the only solutions we had from the first team was [Dilane] Bakwa, [Lorenzo] Lucca and [Ryan] Yates. Murillo we tried, but he was injured and not in condition,

"This is very short to come here without solutions.

"Playing against Chelsea and then travelling again after three days, it was not possible. I'm very proud of our supporters. They tried on this long road to help us, but it was not possible.

"It is a pity, but I am proud of my players because they tried everything.

"[Ola] Aina, out. Morgan [Gibbs-White] out. [Ibrahim] Sangare, out. Murillo, out. Callum [Hudson-Odoi], out. [Dan] Ndoye, out.

"To compete in a game in these conditions, after a game against Chelsea, and play in a semi-final is not possible. This is why I said we were not able to compete."

Forest created chances worth just 0.8 expected goals (xG) from their seven attempts, with only two on target, while Villa finished with 2.6 xG from 18 shots (10 on target).

Pereira's side now return their attention to securing their Premier League status, with only three games left to play, starting at home to Newcastle on Sunday.